Chapter Five

Condemnation of the rich and hard-hearted landowners (1–6). General instructions to Christians in view of the nearness of the Lord’s coming (7–9). On long-suffering in affliction (10–13). On anointing with oil (14–15). Mutual confession and prayer (16–18). The conversion of those who have gone astray (19–20).

James 5:1. Come now, you rich: weep and howl over the miseries coming upon you. From the condemnation of the rich and self-confident merchants (Jas 4:13-16) the Apostle now turns to the condemnation of rich, but unmerciful and harsh owners and landowners for their oppression of poor neighbors and hired workers. In tone and manner of expression, the threatening speech of the Apostle here closely resembles the threatening condemnatory speeches of the Old Testament prophets. The condemned rich people here, as earlier in the epistle (Jas 1:5 ff., Jas 4:1 ff.), apparently belonged to Christian society rather than to unbelieving Jews, though the latter, without doubt, would have found the Apostle’s condemnations fully understandable and compelling, since the vices he condemned—hardheartedness—are contrary not only to the Christian law of love but also to the Mosaic law with its compassionate concern for the poor. The entire condemnatory speech of the Apostle to the rich is divided into two sections: Jas 5:1-3: an announcement of the retribution awaiting the rich from God’s wrath, and Jas 5:4-6—a characterization of the behavior of the rich, their crimes—as the ground or cause for God’s coming judgment. The rich are invited, v. 1, to vigorous weeping—“weep and howl”—expressions used by prophets when announcing the horrors of God’s judgment (Isa 8:6). The Apostle “causes the rich to weep, that is, to weep bitterly because they gather their wealth toward ruin and do not give to the poor. For wealth does not perish only if one spends it on the poor” (Blessed Theophilus). The speech is not about the natural fate of all earthly wealth, which perishes and is subject to decay by its very nature (Jas 1:10), but about the fate that will befall the rich as a judgment from God, as a specific punishment from God, namely in view of the nearness of the Lord’s coming (below, Jas 5:7-9). The purpose of the Apostle’s call to the rich to weep is not only to instill terror and awareness of the greatest calamities coming upon them (cf. Matt 24:30), but also to move them to repentance and reformation of life, while there is still time.

James 5:2. Your wealth has rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. James 5:3. Your gold and silver have corroded, and the corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire: you have stored up treasure in the last days. In keeping with the main vice being condemned in the rich—the misuse of wealth—their calamities are pictured under the image of the destruction of riches and all kinds of material goods. “The rotting of wealth, he says, the eating away of clothes by moths and the rusting of silver and gold will witness against you, condemning you for having given nothing. Therefore in the last days, that is, at the coming of Christ, your wealth will be as it were on fire, gathered to your destruction” (Blessed Theophilus). Like the ancient biblical prophets, the Apostle presents the future judgment over the rich and their possessions as already having taken place (perfectum propheticum). After enumerating individual types of property of the rich alongside the general name of wealth, the Apostle makes (v. 3) a striking statement about the complete uselessness and extreme vanity of accumulating wealth in view of the approaching last days, that is, the nearness of Christ’s coming.

James 5:4. Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who reaped your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. James 5:5. You have lived in luxury on the earth and indulged yourselves; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. James 5:6. You condemned and killed the Righteous One; He did not resist you. Having named above (Jas 5:1-3) the calamities awaiting the merciless rich, the Apostle now in the same prophetically-condemnatory tone shows the cause of the coming judgment upon them—the moral offenses and crimes they have committed. These crimes are as follows: the rich have built their wealth through injustice and oppression (v. 4), which is all the more criminal because they have used their own wealth for luxurious living (v. 5) and even for the persecution of the righteous with the aim of shedding their blood (v. 6). The gravity of the first sin is beyond question: the rich withheld the wages of hired workers, specifically harvesters, through whose hands and labor they built their wealth. The oppression of poor workers through withholding their earned wages is prohibited as one of the gravest crimes already in the Mosaic law (Lev 19:13; Deut 24:14) and was strictly, passionately condemned by the prophets (Amos 2:8; Jer 22:13; Mal 3:5; see Job 31:38; Tob 4:14; Sir 34:22). The Apostle shows the criminality and absolute intolerance of such injustice toward poor workers, expressing it powerfully, by saying that the withheld wages of workers and the oppression inflicted on them—like the blood of the first martyr in the world, Abel (Gen 4:10)—cry out to God, and the groans and cries of the oppressed workers—harvesters and others—have already reached the hearing of the all-knowing Lord, here called by the Old Testament name most often used by the prophets, Sabaoth—the Lord of hosts (Ps 23:10), God of the heavenly armies and the hosts of Israel. In the Septuagint this name is often rendered as Pantocrator, Almighty; consequently, the idea of omnipotence and all-rulership was considered the chief element in the divine name Sabaoth by the Greek Bible translators. In calling God by this name Sabaoth, the Apostle apparently expresses the thought that it will be easy for the Judge God to punish the rich who oppress such poor and laboring people as harvesters, toiling under the scorching rays of the eastern sun. In v. 5 another sin of the rich is condemned: unbridled luxury, extremely intemperate use of the goods of life, which is especially criminal because of the unlawful source of the rich person’s means, gained through the sweat and blood of others. Here also a threatening prediction is given of the fateful end of oppressive rich people: they lived almost like animals, and now their end is portrayed under the image of the slaughter of well-fed animals. In v. 6 the third and most terrible crime of the rich is mentioned—their persecution of the righteous even to blood and death, despite his innocence and gentleness. Some (Oecumenius, Blessed Theophilus, Lange) understood the righteous one to be the Lord Jesus Christ and his unjust condemnation to death and killing by the Jews. But this interpretation is not acceptable: the condemnation and killing of the Lord were accomplished not by the Jews of the Diaspora, to whom (properly to Christian Jews of the Diaspora) the epistle of Apostle James is addressed (Jas 1:1), but by Palestinian Jews, and not only the rich among them, to whom v. 6 is addressed, but also the poor, in a word, the entire Hebrew people in Palestine; the present tense of the verb “does not resist” is in no way applicable to the single past historical event of the Lord’s condemnation and death. Undoubtedly, here “the righteous one” stands in a collective sense (as later in Jas 5:16)—the righteous, suffering unjust persecution. Blessed Theophilius rightfully notes: “by the addition ‘does not resist you,’ the Apostle generalizes the speech, extending it to others who suffered like things from the Jews, and perhaps prophetically speaks of their own suffering.” Persecution and murder of the righteous because of their righteousness, hateful to the persecutors, is a striking mark of the moral corruption of the latter (cf. Wis 2:12-20). Such a crying crime cannot go without the most severe punishment of God’s judgment in the last days; the Apostle, because of the fragmentary nature of his speech, does not directly express this thought about the retribution awaiting the criminal rich, but undoubtedly implies it, turning next to exhortations, Jas 5:7-9, with clearly expressed expectation of the Lord’s coming.

James 5:7. Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See, the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the earth and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rain. James 5:8. You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is drawing near. James 5:9. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged: behold, the Judge stands at the door. Turning now to the poor and humble brothers and sisters, the Apostle teaches them, mainly, patience, as this virtue was most needed in their oppressed state. “Having condemned the luxuriousness and cruelty of the Jewish leaders toward the poor, the Apostle addresses the faithful and says: ‘brothers! Do not be scandalized seeing this, as if there will be no vengeance’” (Blessed Theophilus). The Apostle points to the nearness of the Lord’s coming as the chief incentive for patience: in v. 7 he says “be patient until the coming of the Lord,” showing the appropriateness and fruitfulness of such patience by comparing Christian patience with the patient waiting of a farmer for fruit from his labor and first of all for favorable conditions for that—early and late rains—the autumn and spring rains (the main seasons in Palestine for winter grain and other crops) (cf. Deut 11:14; Jer 5:24; Joel 2:23); in v. 8, repeating the instruction about patience and advising them to acquire strength in patience (see 1 Pet 5:10), he again bases his instruction on the nearness of the Lord’s coming: “the coming of the Lord has drawn near”; finally, in v. 9, urging Christians to avoid grumbling against one another so as to avoid condemnation (cf. Matt 7:1), again as an incentive for fulfilling his instruction points to the nearness of the Lord’s coming: “See, the Judge is standing at the doors!” By “coming of the Lord,” in which Christians should draw moral strength for patience and virtue in general—according to the customary use in the New Testament books of the expression “coming of the Lord”—is undoubtedly meant the second glorious coming of Christ, when there will be a universal awesome judgment, which will end the kingdom of grace and begin the kingdom of glory (see Matt 24:1 ff.) and on which all people will receive righteous recompense for their deeds (Matt 25:1 ff.). The Apostles in their moral instructions to Christians often express the thought of the nearness of the second coming of Christ and the end of the age: Apostle James in the passage we are considering, Apostle Peter in both his epistles (1 Pet 4:7; 2 Pet 3:4), Apostle John the Evangelist (1 John 2:18), Apostle Paul (1 Cor 7:29; 1 Thess 4:1 and others). The question arises: in what sense did the Apostles speak of the nearness of the second coming in their time, when from the words of the Lord it was known to them that the day of Christ’s coming is absolutely unknown (Matt 24:36), and when nearly two thousand years of the existence of Christ’s Church in fact testify against the actual nearness of the day of the second coming to the apostolic age? This can partly be understood from the psychology of faith—from the highest intensity of the faith of the Apostles and Christians in general of the early church: for one who truly and deeply believes the coming of the Lord cannot be far away; faith in general contemplates times in the Lord’s spirit, and before it, as before the Lord, a thousand years are as one day (2 Pet 3:8). But mainly the difficulty in question is clarified from the perspective of the history of God’s plan for human salvation and the division of the world’s life, caused by Christ’s saving work, into two chief epochs—pre-Christian and Christian, Old Testament and New Testament. The latter is sometimes taken by the Old Testament prophets as something whole, without division into separate historical moments within it. Thus, for example, the prophets, speaking of the coming of the Messiah and his kingdom of grace, used the expression: “in the last days” (Isa 2:2 and others), and into the scope of this concept they included such events which (like the transformation of all the world order and all creatures to perfection Isa 11) did not at all take place in the first and subsequent times of Christ’s kingdom of grace, but only come to pass at the universal restoration of creation—at the opening of the kingdom of glory; consequently, with one expression they encompassed the whole period of Christ’s kingdom from its beginning to its end. In a similar way, the Lord and his Apostles spoke of the whole duration of Christ’s kingdom as the last stewardship of human salvation. Thus, Christ the Savior spoke of the coming of the time or hour of the resurrection of the dead (John 5:21), and Apostle John—of the coming of the last hour (1 John 2:18). Now it is fully clear what the eschatological understanding of the nearness of the second coming of Christ means, as the end of the last period of God’s plan for human salvation, after which the kingdom of glory will open. “This nearness of the second coming of Christ to the first should be measured not by the temporal distance of these two events, but rather in this sense should be understood: that with the first coming of Christ the last epoch of the present life of the world has begun, when God has already done everything for the world, and there are no longer any obstacles to the opening of the new glorious kingdom of Christ. This epoch can be long in time, but in its moral connection of events it is the last, and now only the will of God determines its duration; the coming of Christ is near in the inner moral connection of his second coming to the first, these are the last days, the last epoch of the world. But when exactly it will come is not determined by this expression of nearness” (Bishop Michael). And the Lord himself, as is known, revealed to the Apostles only certain signs of the approach of this time (Matt 24).

James 5:10. Take as an example of suffering evil and patience, my brothers, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. James 5:11. Behold, we count blessed those who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the outcome from the Lord, for the Lord is very merciful and compassionate. Continuing to teach Christians to bear affliction without complaint and with patience, the Apostle, to support his instructions, cites the example of Old Testament prophets, who without complaint bore great sufferings for the truth of God’s word they proclaimed. Along with the prophets, as a great example of bearing suffering patiently, the Apostle mentions (v. 11) the righteous Job, in whose history he simultaneously notes the favorable outcome of the sufferings of the righteous person, blessed by God for his patience with great goods. The history of Job, which the Apostle presents as well known to his readers, is thus instructive for suffering Christians in two respects: both for the exceptional patience of Job and for his ultimate vindication by the Lord. The phrase “the purpose of the Lord” does not mean the death and glorification of the Lord, as some interpreters thought (Blessed Augustine, Lange), but rather the reward granted by the Lord for Job’s patience. In the phrase “you have heard of the endurance of Job,” the Apostle perhaps hints at synagogal readings from the book of Job, acquainting the Jews with the great feat of patience of this righteous person. The passage Jas 5:11 is very important as testimony to the historical existence of Job. At the end of v. 11 the Apostle adds to the story of vindication a remark: “because the Lord is compassionate and merciful,” which should fill his readers with the hope that their patience in suffering will, through the Lord’s compassion, be rewarded.

James 5:12. But above all things, my brothers, do not swear, neither by heaven nor by earth, and not by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you do not fall under judgment. James 5:13. Is anyone suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Without apparent connection to what precedes, the Apostle warns Christians against excessive use of oaths. It is known that Jews around the time of Jesus Christ swore very often and in very diverse forms. The Savior Lord condemned these Jewish oaths and showed his followers simple assurance of truth or denial of falsehood as the right form of oath (Matt 5:33-37). The Apostle sets forth the prohibition against misuse of oaths and the instruction for proper use of an oath in almost the same words as the Lord, and like the Lord, does not abolish oaths altogether, but only their unworthy use—motivating his instruction with the words “so that you may not fall under condemnation.” Condemnation of one who swears carelessly is easy and possible. According to the accepted reading, the thought expressed is the inevitability of hypocrisy in careless use of oaths. “Hypocrisy he calls either the condemnation that will befall those who swear ruthlessly and from habit come to transgression, or hypocrisy itself which is one thing to one person and another to another” (Blessed Theophilus). In v. 13 the Apostle gives general instruction that a Christian in both joy and sorrow should remember the Lord, that sorrowful and joyful feelings should find expression in prayer and psalm-singing. “Let suffering be accompanied by prayer, so that for the one being tried an exit from trials is easier. Then, when our agitations through prayer have quieted down and the soul has reached its proper state, then let it wait, so that its blessedness may increase” (Blessed Theophilus).

James 5:14. Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. James 5:15. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. The Apostle now gives the entire society of believers, the whole church, instruction for the case of sickness, whether more or less serious (as shown by the terms “is sick” and “weak”), of one of its members. In this case the sick person should, by freely expressed wish or request, invite the elders of the church—persons not simply of age or seniority, but those with particular ecclesiastical authority and gifts of grace through ordination (see Acts 14:23; 1 Thess 5:12; Heb 13:17), who should perform over the sick person prayer and anointing with oil in the name of the Lord; and the Apostle points out the gracious action or, more precisely, the various gracious actions of “the prayer of faith” (v. 15): this “prayer of faith” will save “the sick,” and will raise them up by the Lord, and if they have committed sin, it will be forgiven them. Western exegesis, in analyzing and explaining these words of the Apostle, has attempted to prove that there is here no reference to the sacrament of anointing, but supposedly the common and widespread practice in Judaism of anointing sick people with oil, performed by rabbis, elders, and some of whom, with their learning, also combined the skill of a physician. It is true that externally anointing with oil, like baptism, is not something new in Christianity. The Bible (Isa 1:6; Luke 10:34) and Jewish tradition—Joseph Flavius (Jewish Wars I:33, 5 and others) and the Talmud—testify to the knowledge and prevalence of anointing in Judaism. In Judaism anointing with oil was used for the most diverse diseases, external and internal—both because of the refreshing and softening effect of oil on skin and body, and partly because of the Jewish belief that in paradise oil flowed from the tree of life, which was to assure people of immortality. However, considered from the inner aspect, Christian anointing appears as an entirely new action, unknown to Judaism—indeed, it is an actual sacrament, though the Apostle James does not establish the sacrament anew but merely advises Christians of its timely use. The marks of the sacramental, gracious nature of the action of anointing are the following features, indicated by the Apostle: a) the performance of anointing not by ordinary Christians but by special church elders; b) “the prayer of faith” over the sick person, namely “in his presence, not from afar, as one can pray for anyone” (Bishop Michael); c) the anointing of the sick person with oil in the name of the Lord, which clearly shows that here not the healing effect of oil in itself is intended; finally, d) the healing action is attributed not to oil but to the prayer of faith—oil is merely an external means or vehicle of the higher power that heals the soul and body of the sick person; the expression of this gracious action of the sacrament is, first, by the general concept of salvation (bodily and spiritual), second, in particular, by the bodily healing of the sick (“the Lord will raise them up”—absolute language instead of conditional) and, third, by the forgiveness of sins, that is, the healing even of spiritual weaknesses of the sick person. From the above it is clear that among the church sacraments, the sacrament of anointing has the particular characteristic, the specific function, of bringing to the person over whom it is performed both spiritual and bodily healing. Therefore incorrect is the view of the Catholic Church regarding the sacrament of anointing as extrema unctio (last anointing), the sacrament of the dying. The basis of this view is the opinion that Apostle James does not speak of bodily recovery of the sick, as though the verb “save” means only spiritual salvation through the outpouring of grace, and “raise up” only indicates strengthening and encouragement of the spirit of the sick during the struggle of the soul with death. But the incorrectness of this understanding is evident already from comparing the words of Apostle James with the testimony of the Evangelist Mark (Mark 6:13) about the healing action of anointing in the hands of the Apostles. Similarly, there is no doubt that the verb “save” in the Bible more than once means bodily healing (Ps 6:5); all the more the verb “raise up” very often means the lifting up of the sick person from the bed of illness, recovery (Matt 8:15). It is also erroneous to see with the Catholics an indication in the mortal state of the sick one over whom the Apostle commands the performance of the sacrament of anointing, in the verb “is sick,” which actually indicates only the severity of illness, not its mortality (Matt 10:8; Luke 4:10), and in the verb “weak,” having a similar meaning (Heb 12:3). Therefore rightfully does Saint Symeon, Bishop of Thessalonica, condemn the Latins: “The Latins say that anointing should not be performed on the sick but only on the dying. What foolishness! The brother of God says: the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up, and they say he will die… Sacred Scripture says: ‘they anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them’ (Mark 6:13), and they say it should be administered not so that sick people will be healed, but so that they remain unhealed and die” (Bishop George).

James 5:16. Confess your transgressions to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed: much can the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplish. James 5:17. Elijah was a man like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain: and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. James 5:18. And he prayed again: and heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. After speaking of the sacrament of anointing, which serves mainly to heal bodily ailments, the Apostle gives a remedy against ailments of the spirit—various sinful falls—namely, he expounds the necessity of mutual prayer of Christians for one another as a sure and universal means of spiritual healing. “But such prayer presupposes mutual confession by believers of their sins, for one must know wherein lies the guilt of our brother, what lies on his conscience, so that our prayer for him might be successful” (Professor Archpriest D.I. Bogdashevsky). Hence the exhortation of the holy Apostle: “confess your sins to one another.” Contrary to the opinion of some ancient and modern interpreters, there is here no reference to the sacrament of penance or confession; the Apostle speaks only of simple mutual acknowledgment by Christians before other believers of their falls, for the sake of mutual reconciliation, comfort, relief, counsel, and chiefly so as to enable Christians to pray for a brother who has sinned. Of course, confession before elders, vested with authority from the Lord to forgive sins, is not excluded here (Matt 18:18; John 20:23). But the Apostle speaks most directly not of the sacrament of penance but of Christian communion, which is ever required in the life of the Church as one body, one organism. Along with mutual confession of Christians the Apostle immediately sets mutual prayer of Christians for one another: “and pray for one another, that you may be healed,” that is, be spiritually healed of spiritual weaknesses—sins that have their root in carnal desires (see Jas 4:1-2). As motivation for Christian mutual aid in the form of prayer the Apostle points to the great power of the prayer of the righteous: “the prayer of the righteous, when put into action, is powerful.” “The prayer of the righteous has great power when the one for whom he prays also cooperates with his prayer through spiritual sorrow. For if, while others pray for us, we spend time in luxury, ease, and self-indulgence, we through this weaken the power of the prayer of the one striving for us” (Blessed Theophilus). However, the expression “put into action” can be rendered without any conditional nuance, for instance, in this way: “powerful is the prayer of the righteous.” As an example of how much the prayer of the righteous can accomplish, the Apostle cites the twofold prayer of the prophet Elijah—first for drought (v. 17, see 1 Sam 17:1), then for rain (v. 18, see 1 Sam 18:42), and in both cases the prophet’s prayer was exactly fulfilled by God. So that the example of the great prophet (see Sir 48:1-15) might not be thought inappropriate for ordinary people, the Apostle, in the very mention of the name of the great Elijah, calls him like-natured to us, a person of the same limited mortal nature as all (cf. Acts 14:15; Wis 7:1).

James 5:19. My brothers! If anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him around, James 5:20. let that one know that the one who turns a sinner from his false way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. In conclusion of his epistle the Apostle—with a loving address “brothers and sisters”—points to the greatest work of help of Christians to a brother who has departed from Christian truth, the truth of faith, thought, and life. Wishing to motivate Christians to such activity, required by the idea of the organic connection of all members of the Church, the Apostle speaks of the exceptional importance of such a feat: “you should know that whoever brings a sinner back from his error will save that one’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (v. 20). To whom does this last promise refer, to the converted sinner or to the one who converts him, receiving great reward for his high deed? In the first case the meaning is that “the work of converting a sinner is great in that, first, the soul of the sinner is saved from death, which of course means eternal death in the spiritual sense and, second, the foundation of such salvation is given—a multitude of sins is covered” (Bishop George). Accepting this explanation (shared by Professor Archpriest D.I. Bogdashevsky, earlier by Bishop Michael and others), we nevertheless believe that the thought of reward for the one who converted is not excluded here. In the analogous expression of Apostle Peter (1 Pet 4:8): “love covers a multitude of sins” according to the explanation of Blessed Theophilaktes, the thought is that “mercy toward one’s neighbor makes God merciful to us” (see Matt 6:14-15). With an exhortation to the most important feat of Christian love, the Apostle concludes his epistle, full of profound theology and holy moral teaching.